Hydrogen

Feds Offer $35M to Advance Hydrogen Fuel Cell Tech

The U.S Department of Energy is offering up to $35 million in grant funding to advance hydrogen fuel cell vehicle technologies, the federal agency has announced.

By supporting research and development, early market deployments, and domestic manufacturing, the department hopes that this extra funding will speed up the development of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies.

The available funding includes hydrogen production, delivery, and storage research and development (R&D); demonstration of infrastructure component manufacturing, and support for Climate Action Champions deploying hydrogen and fuel cell technologies; consortia topics for fuel cell performance and durability and advanced hydrogen storage materials research; and cost and performance analysis for hydrogen production, storage, and fuel cells.

As FCEVs become increasingly commercially available, the Energy Department is focused on advancements to enable hydrogen infrastructure including production, delivery, storage, and manufacturing, as well as continuing to reduce fuel cell cost and improve durability.

Some of the research being done includes development of advanced compression and vacuum insulation for automotive applications.

Hyundai unveiled its Nexo next-generation hydrogen fuel cell vehicle with higher-level autonomy that should deliver a range of 609 kilometers (378 miles) and will initially be sold in South Korea, the company announced.

Kenworth's latest green initiative, the Zero Emissions Cargo Transport (ZECT), is a hydrogen fuel cell powered battery-electric vehicle, capable at this point of about 100 miles of travel fully loaded. Equipment Editor Jim Park got to take the truck for a spin.